kjackson

Crestliner is an obvious one, and so is Lund, but the sticker on the Lund may be a shock... I'm looking at Alumacraft; they are pretty good boats and less expensive than some others.

Dunno on the last as all the info I got was that they were an intro this year. The casting versions cover the bases. Haven't done more than look at titles of things as I leave early tomorrow and still have to pack and do the usual stuff before a trip... One thing that came in this morning was a preview of Livetarget's new soft-body baits. One that should strike a chord with the Table Rock guys is the hollow-body crawdad. It looks good and may well be too good. There are quite a few fishing apps and games this year, and the new electronics look really good online. Kinda wish I was there tomorrow to see the on-the-water demos.

Couple of things popped up today: St. Croix has the Mojo Yak series of rods new this year as well as fiberglass spinning rods. I've tried the FG casting rods, and they feel very, very good Also, 13 Fishing has a lipless crank bait out this year as well as a new walking bait.

Since I'm going to ICAST on Tuesday, I've been getting releases on new products. And, yes, Lew's does have some new reels this year as well as some things that are still under wraps. Virtually every exhibitor will have new products or be at the show for the first time. While it would be fun to keep adding to this thread with new items, that's about all I would be doing for the next few days... Some things that have popped up recently: a hybrid monofilament/copolymer that incorporates GSP, the material used in super-lines; several new kayaks or kayak companies; at least two versions of bladed jigs that are very different; enough "new" types of frogs to fill a pond; too many soft plastics; a small-bodied, deep-diving square bill from Strike King; new electronics that network with everything including your socks; Evinrude/Alumacraft/BRP exhibiting for the first time; a lot of new rods; new reels from everybody-- you get the idea: virtually everybody has something new that is a real "game changer". Virtually everything is a either "new", or "game changer", or whatever will be the latest superlative to become a cliche. Despite the hype, it's a fun show. I'll try to report back, but unfortunately, I have to work while there, and that limits fun time. .

My son caught a nice drum in Beaver that we decided to fillet to see what it was like. It was not a walleye, but it was pretty good. I think the texture of the meat would be perfect for some things.

I would think fairly soon, but I can ask at the show.

Could well be-- I was trying to do it from memory, and you only have to ask my wife how good that is...

It is being marketed for the Craw Z... We're starting to see some interesting things coming out for the show.

Thank you, sir! That, and the rest of the entry under that date is impressive. I can tell I'll have to up my game in cooking. The burger recipe looks outstanding, and it will be on my list when the piscivore-vegetarian son visits next week. I'll have to look at the rest of the blog once I stop drooling...

This is way off the food sub-thread (but I like your idea there), but you should try some of the Smash Shads in the UV finishes. The purple tiger and green UV version (can't remember the exact name of either) have been very good to me this year. I may have to try your version of a fish burger tonight. Fried crappie is getting boring...

Thanks, Phil. Normally, I don't post articles I've written, but 1Source likes to see traffic. I've two more articles under contract, and I'm hoping for more down the road...and I'm guessing the more readers an article gets, the better the chance I have.

Bass Pro 1Source just posted an article I wrote on kayaks, crappies and docks. Find it here: https://1source.basspro.com/index.php/component/k2/81-kayaking/4026-the-perfect-spring-fishing-trio-from-a-kayak-to-docks-for-crappie-video

Considering that I moved from the PNW, I have quite a few steelhead-oriented books, notable among them is Roderick Haig-Brown's fisherman's seasons books plus books by Trey Combs and a few others of that ilk. I also have most of Patrick McManus's books, which, if you've not read them, you should. Granted they're not flyfishing, except for a story or two, but they're definitely outdoors-oriented. Pat passed away a couple of weeks ago, sadly. He was my advisor in grad school. I don't have much in the way of flyfishing books for bass and other warm water fish, but I have some books related to general topics from Lefty Kreh, Polly Rosborough and others. I would show pics of my collection, but I'd have to build bookcases first! Moving twice in six years has left me a bit (hah!) disorganized. Add to that the fact that I was on a couple of distribution lists from book companies that sent me every fishing title they printed, and I have a number of books I've not even read.

Sold.

I've got four spools of Nanofil: 8-pound green, 150 yards 14-pound green, 300 yards 12-pound white, 300 yards 12-pound white, 300 yards, opened, but unused (I'm pretty sure)... Only the last spool was opened, used for a photo prop and returned to package. I may have spooled a reel with it, though, so it should show as a partial spool; although, it appears to be very close to full. Selling as a lot only. $40 TYD

Was at our lake place this morning and saw the lake come up about a foot and then drop back down quickly. Sigh. The crappie were on the banks, though, so there is hope. Saw quite a few boats run up the creek earlier this month but not so many now.

12 lb spools are gone... $15 for remaining two, TYD.

Offers?

Was back at the cabin yesterday, and all the mud has moved out. Clarity was good--to the point I could see the bottom in more than a foot... There was a lot of algae globs floating around, though, and some boats running up the main channel hunting for fish.

The Cole Camp Creek arm was pretty muddy last year and didn't start clearing until winter. Was at our place last weekend, and it was Mississippi muddy, the muddiest I've seen it. With all the boat traffic, the mud/silt gets stirred up pretty regularly in our section.

I've been rooting through some of the old tying posts and ran across some patterns I want to try. I'll be fishing for temperate bass with the bug rod, so what hook size do I need? Also, I found a SBS for the Stouffer Shuttlecock...http://www.themidwest-drift.com/stouffers-shuttlecock That looks like a good one to tie. I still have a bunch of steelhead/searun/salmon flies in boxes, and some of those will undoubtedly come into play. Right now, though, I need something to keep me busy in the evenings. thx.

It depends upon the state, but generally, the answer is "yes." Missouri is the first state I've lived in where being older than dirt (and a resident) means you don't need a license.

Here's a different take on the Whopper Plopper. John Crews did something similar to a Spro frog. Here's a video on Booyah's version. I may have to buy a couple... https://youtu.be/ewL42imV5Ys.

Not to pick nits, but the term mooching as used in salmon fishing is a totally different type of fishing. It involves bait (usually a cut herring) fished close to the bottom where 60 feet is shallow. I wouldn't add this, but it's what I grew up doing in the PNW. It also is a term used by old-school fly fishermen in the Pacific Northwest and B.C. for slowly drifting with a fly on a sinking line... As for 10-pound smallies, a friend also saw what he claimed was one over 10. He worked for Luhr Jensen before it was sold to Rapala. While he mainly fished for trout in mountain lakes in the Cascades, he also fished for anything that would bite. Along that stretch of the lower Columbia near Hood River, Oregon, are a number of backwater areas that are connected to the river by culverts and small channels. He said that he was fishing in one such on the Washington side when he spotted the big female on a bed but couldn't get her to bite. He tried several times, as I recall, but with no joy. He said that he went back to the same bedding area several years in a row and saw the same big fish in that area, but again, she wouldn't hit. He'd caught enough smallies to be able to guess how big she was...

Since I'm in work-avoidance mode, I'll add a story here. Probably 20 years ago, I was on a spring trip with a local guy, fishing the Hanford Reach of the Columbia River. This section is the last free-flowing stretch of the middle Columbia and passes through the Hanford Nuclear Reservation--which means it's closed for a major portion of the year. My friend/guide took us to a slough off the main channel, and we started catching bass right away. It was absolutely the best smallmouth fishing I've ever had, and that includes Erie, Mille Lacs and some of the shield lakes. The smallies we were catching were a measured 18- to 20-inches long, and it was a rare cast that didn't result in a fish. It was that good. It's difficult to say this, but there were so many fish in that slough, and they were so hungry that we kinda got bored. Throw out a Kalin's three-inch or five-inch grub on a leadhead, and you'd land a fish. If one dropped it, there was a good chance another would hit it on the way back to the boat. There was no challenge at all. So we decided to move out of the slough and see if we could find fish elsewhere. At the mouth of the slough we stopped to give it a try. The area was full of boulders--big, basalt rocks that were broken bits of the old lava flows. I didn't get a bite on the grub, so I picked up a crankbait rod with a Wiggle Wart and cast past a pair of large rocks, and as the bait worked past the gap between them, two fish started to follow. Here I'll say that the water in that stretch was/is fairly clear most of the time, and visibility was six feet or so. One of the fish was a dink, and the other dwarfed it, and by "dwarfed", I mean the larger fish was at least six inches longer and perhaps three times the mass. Of course, the dink dashed to the Wart and inhaled it. That fish measured 20 inches. Sooooooo-- I'm claiming I've seen a 10-pound smallie. Granted, it was only for a few seconds, but it is a fish I will remember. Also-- we didn't find any bass in other stretches of the river and went back to that slough to end the day.